Slovakia's President Ivan Gašparovič is set to attend a presidential summit on central and eastern Europe in Warsaw on Friday, May 27, even though the event will also be attended by Kosovo's President Atifete Jahjaga. Slovakia does not officially recognise the former Serbian province, the TASR newswire reported. US President Barack Obama is also expected to attend the summit.
Gašparovič's attendance at the event was confirmed on Tuesday by his spokesman Marek Trubač who added that the Polish hosts have accepted Slovakia's proposals for adjusting the protocol. The Polish organisers invited Kosovo's top representative, thereby creating a "diplomatic and legal obstacle" to the Slovak president's attendance, according to Trubač.
However, "according to our requests there will be no national symbols, including the coat of arms, national flag or the inscription 'Republic of Kosovo', and no joint declaration will be adopted that would contain the signature of the interim president of Kosovo," Trubač told the TASR newswire.
At the end of the meeting of presidents, Gašparovič also will take part in a joint dinner with US President Barack Obama, the Sme daily wrote.
The office of Serbia's President Boris Tadic announced that it will boycott the summit due to the attendance of Kosovo's president, while Romania's President Traian Basescu also indicated that he has a problem attending the event given the presence of the top representative of the 'separatist province'.
Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence in 2008, gaining diplomatic recognition from the USA and all EU-member countries except Slovakia, Romania, Spain, Greece and Cyprus.
Source: TASR, Sme
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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